Nilaja Sun's one-woman play shines light on controversial law

“No Child…,” playing through Dec. 23 at the American Repertory Theatre’s Loeb Drama Center, is based on Sun’s nine years of experience as an arts teacher in more than 40 schools around the country.

Francis Ma

Every time Nilaja Sun takes the stage, she reveals the truth about herself, her experiences and what the No Child Left Behind Act is doing to our nation’s classrooms.

But she’s quick to explain that her one-woman play, “No Child…,” isn’t a sort of political protest. It’s much simpler than that.

“It’s really just a mirror of what’s going on in our schools,” says Sun. “It’s an examination of how our kids are being taught and the challenges just in their daily lives.”

“No Child…,” playing through Dec. 23 at the American Repertory Theatre’s Loeb Drama Center, is based on Sun’s nine years of experience as an arts teacher in more than 40 schools around the country.

The idea for the play struck Sun two years ago and she wrote it over one weekend in May 2005, abstaining from eating and getting minimal sleep.

“I wanted to hit the most honest points and the only way to do that was to write as quickly as possible,” explains Sun. “I didn’t edit too much of that original draft. I didn’t want to edit the truth out or make it too sappy.”

Truth is important to Sun, especially when she’s taking on such a heated subject. The NCLB Act (which is now a federal law) has been a hot topic in the presidential race.

As Sun explains, the Act has a wonderful theme behind it: All teachers should be accountable for the kids. But it’s the implementation of the law that has stirred problems among educators and administrators.

“It’s placed a lot of pressure on the teachers,” says Sun. “They are teaching kids how to pass a test, so many teachers don’t get to teach kids other subjects. And this just makes the arts that much more nonexistent.”

Here’s how the act works. Teachers are required to be certified and pass certain tests on their curriculum. Students (grades 3-8) are also required to pass a test in math and reading.

So in the interest of not leaving behind any students, teachers spend most of the school year essentially teaching their students to pass the test. And if students don’t do well on the tests, federal funding hangs in the balance.

“I never thought I’d be doing the show a year and a half later,” says Sun. “A lot of politicians have seen it, but there hasn’t been any real changes.”

Instead, Sun sees change happening from the “thousands of teachers” who have seen the show, many of whom have told her afterwards that they have changed the way they teach because of the play.

The show focuses on an arts teacher conducting a six-week workshop where she is attempting to stage a version of Timberlake Wertenbaker’s “Our Country’s Good” with her students at a Bronx high school.

Interestingly enough, Wertenbaker’s 1988 play focuses on class issues and the importance, and effectiveness, of art. Sun plays 17 characters in the play, including some kids.

“Students have come to the show and they are cracking up,” says Sun. “It’s important to get the humor out there because you don’t want people to be devastated the entire time. Some of the kids literally feel left behind and many of them feel they are replicas of some of these characters.”

After the shows, she usually talks to the kids in the audience about the issues in the production, but her interaction with them doesn’t stop there. In each city she has performed the show, she has held a workshop for local, inner-city students where she talks about social identity (she’s planning to work in three different schools while she’s in Boston).

“I try to get the kids to think about how people see them and how they present themselves to society,” says Sun. “Many of these kids don’t feel like they are a part of society. Part of my job is to really try to help kids shine their best light.”

She does this with various exercises. In one, she has the students put a card on their forehead. Each card has a number from one to 10. The students don’t know what number they have and are treated by the other students as if they were that number.

“We get the chance to discuss what it means to be a 10,” says Sun. “I’m trying to get the kids to feel more like a human being. I want them to feel empathy, to feel what it’s like to be in someone’s shoes. They are the citizens of tomorrow and they are going to be our leaders.”

After a pause, she adds, “And we have to hope they aren’t going to trash the country.”